Ironing board



Oct. 11, 1960 w. F. TIPPING IRONING BOARD 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec.1'7. 1956 INVENTOR ATTOQNEVS moms. BOARD William Frederick Tipping,Chislehurst, England, assignor to ,Simplus Products Limited, London,England, a

British company I Filed Dec. 17, 1956, Ser. No. 628,396

s Claims. 01. 38-135) This invention relates to ironing boards.

It has been the common practice in ironing boards to provide a sleeveboard which can be swung by a simple pivoting movement from a positionunderneath the main ironing surface to a position above the main ironingsurface. Such arrangements, however, usually necessitates the sleeveboard, when stored, ,being positioned well below the main ironingsurface and it is an object of the present invention to provide animproved construction for supporting a movable sleeve board. 1 Accordingto this invention, in an ironing board of the kind comprising a mainboard and a sleeve board, the sleeve board is slidably mountedunderneath the main board for withdrawal in a direction transversely ofthe length of the main board. v

It has previously been proposed to provide a sleeve board slidablymounted underneath one end of the main board for withdrawal in thelongitudinal direction. By withdrawing the sleeve board transversely ofthe main board, the sleeve board may be much more firmly sup ported andthe sleeve board may be provided with legs arranged so that, after thesleeve board has been withdrawn from underneath, the main board, it canbe supported above the level of the main board.

According to one feature of the invention, in an ironingboard'of thekind comprising a main board and a sleeve board, the-sleeve board issupportedon a pair of legs, each of which legs includes a rod-likeportion extending transversely to the main ironing surface, underneathwhich surface this portion of the leg is pivotally mounted for rotationabout its longitudinal axis, which portion is also slidable axially inits pivot mounting so that the sleeve board may be withdrawn outwardlyto lie to one side of the main ironing surface. Each leg is shaped tohave a U-shaped portion oris provided with a U-shaped clamp adapted tofit over the edge of the main ironing surface when the sleeve board legshave been swung about their pivots to the raised position and have thenbeen moved inwardly. With this construction, assuming the sleeve boardis in a raised position, it is then lowered by withdrawing it outwardlyto disengage the U-shaped portion of the leg or the U-shaped clamp fromthe edge of the main ironing surface and then allowing the legsto'rotate in their mountings until the sleeve board is beneath the levelof the main ironing surface. The sleeve board may then be pushedunderneath this main ironing surface by sliding the rod-like portions ofthe legs in their mountings.

The following is a description of one embodiment of the invention,reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an ironing board; and

Figure 2 is an underside perspective View of the ironing board of Figure1 shown with the legs in the stowed position.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a main ironing board which issupported on a pair of pivotally- 2 v connected legs 11,12. The legs 11,12 are of tubular form and, where they are pivoted, are provided withflanged bushes 13 with the flanges providing enlarged bearing surfacesin the plane of relative movement, a

pivot pin 14 being arranged to extend through the 'two bushes. At theirlower ends the legs are secured to transverse bars 15 having rubberferrules 16 forming feet. On the underside of the board 10 are securedtwo longitudinally extending angle members 17 having downwardlyextending flanges 18. The leg 11 is secured to a cross member 20 whichis pivotally mounted in the two flanges 18. The leg 12 at its upper endis secured to a tubular cross member 21 fitting between the flange 18and inside which is an axially movable rod (not shown) having portionsof such reduced diameter as to be capable of sliding along guide tracks22 (Figure 1) which are formed as slots in downwardly extending portions23 of the flanges 18. Each of the slots 22 is formed with a number ofenlarged holes 24 and the axially movable rod in the tubular crossmember 21 has enlarged portions which, by axial movement can be engagedin these holes 24 to prevent movement along the slot. This axiallymovable rod is preferably spring loaded so as to keep it in the lockingposition in which it engages in one of the holes 24 in each of the slots22. This form of leg construction is described and claimed in co-pendingU.S. application 628,893, now abandoned.

A sleeve board 30 is provided having two legs 31 formed of metal rod.Each leg is formed by a rod which has a U-shaped portion 32 somewherenear the centre of its length and from the top of one arm 33 of the Uthe rod extends in a straight line in the plane of the U and at rightangles to. that arm of the U for a distance sufiicient to position thesleeve board 30 at the required height above the main ironing surface,as shown in Figure 1. At the top end of this straight portion the rod is.bent in another right angle to have an end portion 34 (Figure 2) lyingin the plane of the U and extending parallel to the arms of the U in adirection toward the base thereof so that the end of the rod lies on ornear an extension of the line of the base of the U. This end 34 of therod fits slidably into a bush-35 or other bearing on the underside ofthe sleeve board 30. From the top of the second arm 36 of the U, .therod extends initially at right angles to that arm in a plane at an angleto the plane of the U so that the plane. of the U can lie below thelevel of the end portion of the rod when the sleeve board is in thestowed position shown in Figure 2. From theend of this sloping portion37 the rod extends in right angles in a direction parallel to the armsof the U and in a plane parallel to but above the plane of the U, thisportion 38 extending in a direction opposite to the downward directionof the U. This last mentioned portion fits slidably in pivots in theaforementioned flanges 18. The sloping portions 37 of the rod shaped inthis manner permit that, when the sleeve board 30 is in its lowerposition in which its underside rests on the arms 33, 36 of the U, thesleeve board is beneath the level of the main ironing surface 10 andhence can he slid underneath the main ironing surface when not in use(as shown in Figure 2). To raise the sleeve board from the positionshown in Figure 2 to that shown in Figure 1 it is moved outwards bysliding the portions 38 in their pivots and is then swung upwardly, theportions 38 turning in their pivots. When in the raised position, thesleeve board is pushed inwardly so that the U-shaped portions 32 engageover the edge of the main ironing board 10.

In order to enable the whole surface of the board 10 to be used forironing, there is provided an iron holder 40 which is more fullydescribed and claimed in co-pending US. application No. 628,891, nowabandoned.

On the opposite side of the board to the. iron holder is arranged a cordholder 47 which is more fully described and claimed in co-pending U.S.application No. 628,894, now Patent No. 2,923,077, granted February 2,19,60, and for supporting large articles, such as sheets, when they arebeing ironed, there is provided a' worlg supra As is described andclaimed in co-pending U.S. applica tion No. 628,895, now abandoned, thepadding is secured on the main board 10 and the sleeve board by means ofcanvas or like covers which lit over the tops of the boards and extendinwardly around the edges on the undersides of the boards as seen inFigure 2 At their inner edges 53 on the undersides of the boards,tension springs or elastic are provided the covering material so toretain the covers in position.

I claim:

1 In an ironing board having a main ironing surface, a sleeve boardextending in the longitudinal direction of said main ironing surface andhaving a pair of similar legs spaced apart in that direction, each ofwhich legs includes a rod-like end portion extending transverse} ly tothe main ironing surface which rod-like portion is pivotally mounted onthe underside of said main ironing surface for rotation about thelongitudinal axis of the rod-like end portion and is also slidableaxially in its pivot mounting so that the sleeve board may be withdrawnoutwardly from underneath the main ironing surface to lie to one sidethereof, pivot means connecting the end of each leg remote from saidrod-like portion to the underside of the sleeve board for pivotalmovement about an axis parallel to said rod-like portion, U- shapedmeans on each of said legs having the arms of the U parallel to butdisplaced from the axis of said rod-like portion of the leg, the arms ofthe U being spaced apart sufliciently in the direction between therodlike portion and the point of attachment of the leg to the sleeveboard to fit over the edge of the main ironing board by sliding therod-like portions inwardly from the edge of the main ironing surfaceafter the sleeve board has been withdrawn from underneath that surfaceand raised by pivoting the rod-like portions in their mounts, and eachleg being formed by a rod-like member with the U-shaped meansconstituted by a bight in the member.

2. An ironing board as claimed in claim 1 wherein said U-shaped means oneach leg lies below the sleeve board to act as a stop limiting downwardmovement of the sleeve board as the rod-like end portions of the legsare rotated about their axes to swing the other ends of the legsdownwardly. i

3. An ironing board as claimed in claim 1 wherein each leg is so shapedthat the arm of said U-shaped means engaging the upper side of the mainironing surface is dis placed from the plane defined by the pivot axisof said rod-like portion and the pivot axis of said pivot meansconnecting the leg to the sleeve board.

4. An ironing board comprising a main ironing surface, a sleeve boardextending in the longitudinal direction of said main ironing surface andhaving a pair of similar legs spaced apart in that direction, each ofwhich legs includes one end portion extending transversely to the mainironing surface and pivotally mounted on the underside of said mainironing surface for rotation about thelongitudinal axis of said one endportion, each of said legs further having its other end pivotallysecured to the underside of said sleeve board with the pivot axisparallel to the axis of said one end portion and the leg being shaped sothat the pivot axes are displaced from one another, the two legs beingspaced apart longitudinally of the main ironing surface to form aparallel motion linkage permitting the sleeve board to be raised andlowered, and means on said legs adapted to engage said main ironingsurface to lock the sleeve board in the raised position.

5. An ironing board as claimed in claim 4 wherein said one end portionof each leg is slidably mounted in its pivot axis to permit of movementof the sleeve board transversely of the main ironing surface.

6, An ironing board as claimed in claim 5 wherein said one end portionof each leg is slidably mounted to permit of the sleeve board in itslowered position being slid underneath the main ironing surface.

7. An ironing board as claimed in claim 4 wherein said means on saidlegs adapted to engage said main ironing surface comprise a U-shapedportion on each leg to fit'overthe edge of said main ironing surfacewhen the sleeve board and legs are slid inwardly in the raised position.

8. An ironing board as claimed in claim 4 wherein stop means areprovided on each leg arranged to engage the underside of'the sleeveboard, as the latter is lowered, to limit the downward movement of thesleeve board."

